Saving Dory
by If Wishes Were Blue Skies
Summary: When Dory is poisoned by the anemone, Marlin has to go on a trip to get the 7 ingrediants need for her medicine. But he only has one week to do so. FINALLY CHAPTER 7!
1. Default Chapter

**Summary:**When Dory is poisoned by the sea anemone, Marlin goes to see the Medicine Wizard. The wizard tells Marlin that he will need seven special ingredients to make the right medicine for Dory. Marlin is also told by the wizard where to find each ingredient and that he will only have a week. So Marlin goes on a long adventure in search for the seven ingredients for Dory before it's too late to save her.

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**A/N:**This is my first "Finding Nemo" fanfic, and probably my last. I hope to keep writing them, though. All depends on weather I can come up with good enough plots, since it took a while to come up with this one. 

I saw "Finding Nemo" on it's opening day and fell in love with it. I'm downloading it on Kazaa and I'm seeing again here soon. It's my all-time favorite movie, and it's the best movie I've ever seen in my life. And I say that about all the movies I like, but this time I really mean it. When the movie was over, I was smiling and couldn't stop smiling for the rest of the night. It was so good.

Anyway, I really hope you people like it and that you review it. I noticed that stories don't get many reviews over at this section, but I hope I get at least 10. I really put effort into this. 

Oh, and one more thing. I'm not sure about what happened with Marlin and Dory at the end of the movie. My guess is that they were just really good friends (since this is a Marlin/Dory fic), but I don't know. If I am wrong, please tell me.

**Disclaimer:**I don't own "Finding Nemo." It belongs to the people who wrote it. This story is just mine.

"Saving Dory" 

By: I-luv-mark

{though I don't luv mark anymore :P}

It was a beautiful day in the coral reef. Everyone was outside, visiting with their friends and spending time with their families. Marlin floated outside his anemone home, looking out at the view. His son, Nemo was out somewhere with his friends. So, Marlin was all by himself for the day--or so he thought.

"Hey! What are you doing?" 

Marlin nearly jumped out of his skin when his best friend, Dory, swam in front of him from out of nowhere. He sighed, calming himself down. "Oh, nothing, Dory," he said. "Just looking around at everyone." She swam beside him so that she could look out at everything.

"Yeah, it seems like everyone's out today." There was a silence and then Dory remembered what she had come for. She had almost forgotten, but her being with Marlin triggered her memory, as it always did. 

"So what were you planning on doing today?" she asked, now looking at him. He shrugged. "Nothing, really. Nemo's off with his friends, and I thought I would just relax. I mean, with the past couple of days," he said. 

"Well, not anymore, 'cause I'm bored out of my mind and I'm not about to sit in my house all day. What do you say we go visit Bruce and them?" she suggested, but Marlin shook his head. 

"I'm still kind of… uneasy around them ever since what happened last time I was over there," he told her, sounding a bit embarrassed. She just nodded. "That's ok. I don't blame you. But you gotta admit, it was my blood that made him chase us, and I'm just fine around him. No matter, though, we can always think of something else."

Marlin chuckled. "Why don't we just take a swim? For exercise, and for something to do?" he suggested. "Sure," Dory agreed. So they left the anemone and went off into the rest of the neighborhood. They past by the park and while there, they swam past a balloon stand. Dory wanted to stop and get one, but Marlin stopped her from doing so. Then they went past the drop off. During the time, they didn't really get into any of the subjects that were brought up. And when they were starting to head back, Marlin thought of something.

Dory was now his best friend, and for sure his most loyal. He thought that now would be a good time to tell her the reason for his past cautiousness, and why he had made a vow to never let anything happen to Nemo.

"Dory, I want to show you something," he said. She looked at him and said, "Okay."  Marlin lead her to the bottom of a tall hill and swam up it. She followed until he got to the top, which was where he stopped. In front of him was the anemone house where he had lived for such a short time.

"Dory, this is where I used to live. Before Nemo was born," he told her. Dory looked at the anemone and then back to him with an expression saying she didn't understand. He continued. 

"I wanted to tell you the reason for me being so…" he wasn't sure how to put it. "Uptight?" Dory offered. "Yes, exactly. It took me a lot of work to get this place because of its view. Alot of other clown fishes had their eye on it, too. But, despite that, I only lived here for a couple of days – maybe a week," he explained. 

"Why?" Dory asked. 

"Well… it was only a couple of days after Coral had the eggs –," he stopped when he saw the confused look on Dory's face. Then he remembered that he had never told her about Coral. "Coral, she's… well, was my wife," he told her, then continued. "Anyway, one day, we were fooling around inside the house. I was chasing her around, you know, just having fun." Marlin felt his lip start to tremble slightly at the memory, but he bit down on it to stop it. 

"Well, she swam out here and when I got out to follow her, I looked around and all the neighbors were gone. Then I looked over and saw her standing perfectly still, not moving at all. I was about to ask her what was wrong but then I looked beyond her and saw what she was looking at.

"It was a… it was a barracuda, and it was no more than five feet away from us. It seemed to be looking down, and I followed its gaze to see what. I realized that it was looking at the small hole where the eggs were," he said and he swam down into the hole, which was only a small distance away from the anemone. 

He looked up at Dory, who obviously was paying very close attention. He continued again. "Well, I saw that Coral was looking down at the eggs and I knew she was going to try to save them. I tried to tell her to come into the house, but…" he felt his one eyes start to water, but he blinked to push back the tear. Dory must have noticed, because she swam next to him and gave him a reassuring smile. He smiled back and started once again. 

"It all happened so fast. All I remember was Coral diving down to this hole and then the barracuda going after her. Then everything went black, and it was already dark outside before I regained consciousness. And by that time… it was too late. I looked for her and the eggs, but when I didn't… I, I knew they were gone.

"But just when I thought everything was over, I saw one egg sitting on a stone. I thought it was a miracle that just one egg would survive a barracuda attack. It had a crack on one side from being tossed around – which is the reason for Nemo's bad fin." 

He stopped and felt Dory's eyes on him, but pretended that he couldn't. "And I named him Nemo, because right before the attack, Coral had told me that she wanted to name one of them Nemo."

Marlin ended his story with a single tear going down his cheek. It was the first time he had actually thought about what had happened that day. Sure, he would have flashbacks occasionally, but they were never in detail like what he just gone through now.

He looked over to Dory, who hadn't said a thing since he began the story. She had listened to him and stayed attentive. But now she seemed to have a concerned look on her face.

"Wow. I never figured there was a whole story behind your behavior. I just thought that you were just one of those people who were over-cautious. Shows how much I know, doesn't it?" she said. Marlin laughed a little.

"Yeah, I guess so," he said. She smiled, happy that she had gotten him to cheer up a bit. Marlin looked outside and saw that it was starting to get dark. They hadn't been out for more than an hour, but they had left at a later time. 

"Guess we better start heading back home," he said, starting out of the hole. Dory nodded and followed him out into the open water. When she got out she looked at Marlin, who seemed frozen. She swam in front of him and waved her fin in his face.

"Hello? Is anyone in there?" she called, but he didn't move. Then she noticed that he was looking at something behind her.

"Dory, go into the anemone," he whispered. When she didn't move, he added harshly, "Now!" 

She looked behind herself and saw a barracuda staring at both of them. 

**A/N:**Bum bum bum! How's that for a cliffhanger? Well, please please please let me know what you think! I really put effort into this! I should have the next chapter up soon. And if I'm wrong about what happened with them two at the end of the movie, please let me know! It means the world to me!


	2. Only Clown Fish Can Go into the Anemone

**A/N: **I'm very sorry for the long wait on this chapter. I don't usually take that long to write a chapter, just so you know. I was just at my grandma's for the past week, and I had it written, but on my home computer, so I couldn't post it while I was gone. Again, I am sorry about the wait.

**Disclaimer:**See chapter 1

Chapter 2 – "Only Clown Fish Can Go Into the Anemone" 

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Dory panicked at the sight of the large fish bearing down at her and Marlin. She heard Marlin yell at her to go again, but the only reason she disobeyed was that she felt something telling her not to. It was a similar feeling to when she didn't want to swim over the jellyfish trench.

Once more, she heard Marlin's command to get into the anemone, and also noticed the pleading in his voice. This got her moving, and as she sped off in the direction of the anemone, Marlin quickly followed with the barracuda right behind him.

Marlin watched Dory disappear into the anemone and heard the clamping of jaws just as he swam into the safety of the poisonous tentacles. He turned and heard the barracuda growl, and then he waited to check to see if the coast was clear. The predator had left and Marlin sighed with relief.

"Wow, that was close. You know, it's a good thing that only clown fish can go into the…" He stopped and his eyes grew wide at realization. He spun around and gasped in horror. "Dory!" he shouted.

Dory was lying unconscious at the other side of the anemone. Marlin swam over to her and checked her over. He couldn't find any wounds worse than the scratches that covered her body, and her breathing was very labored.

What am I doing? I have to get her out of here!" he scolded himself. 

Marlin did his best to pick Dory up and carry her out of the anemone. He then laid her carefully down on the sand. 

Dory, wake up!" he said, tapping her. 

Dory didn't move. She wasn't even talking in her sleep, and that scared Marlin a bit. He checked her breathing again, and when he concluded that she was just knocked out, he tried again to wake her up.

"Oh, Dory, wake up!" 

Instead of tapping her, he tried shaking her a bit. Her eye twitched, but that was it. Marlin saw this as progress and shook her harder, pleading her to awaken. "Please wake up, Dory… please."

Marlin was feeling more worse by the second. He tried not to think of what might happen if she didn't regain consciousness. He didn't know what he would do of something ever happened to Dory. After losing Coral, and nearly losing Nemo, Marlin didn't think that he could go through some one else he cared about leave him forever. 

Dory's moan shook Marlin from his thoughts. Her eyes fluttered open.

"Dory?" Marlin asked, as if to make sure she was really awake. Her eyes rested on him and she smiled. He smiled back with a look saying 'thank goodness.'

"What happ-," she started, but just then her eyes closed and she drifted into another state of unconsciousness. Marlin gasped.

"Dory? Dory, wake up!" he practically shouted. When she didn't respond, Marlin panicked again. He swam around in circles muttering to himself about how he should have never brought her to this part of the reef. How he could have told her that story anywhere else, but no, he had to bring her there. And now she was hurt, and he didn't know what to do.

"Okay, Marlin." Oh, great. Now he was talking to himself. That definitely isn't a good sign. "Calm down. Just think of how I can get out of this mess." Marlin rested on a spot in the sand next to Dory and studied her for a moment. 

"I'm gonna have to carry her the rest of the way home. I'm just glad that it's not _too _far away from here," he said. He looked her over again and picked her by her top (just like he did when he was carrying her out of the jellyfish).

Marlin began to move forward, using only his tailfin, since his other fins were busy keeping Dory in his hold.  She wasn't extremely heavy, but the thing that was giving him a bit of trouble was her size. 

She was bigger than him, and so he had to struggle to keep her from slipping. But after a minute or two, he started to get used to it and he could swim faster. 

About every ten minutes, Marlin would have to take a break because his fins would begin to hurt from straining to hold on to Dory. And each time he took a break, Marlin would try again to wake her up, but she still remained motionless. 

By the time Marlin got home, it was late. _Nemo must be wondering where I am, _Marlin thought. He put Dory down in front of his anemone home. His fins were stiff, but he was happy that he had made it home. 

Marlin checked Dory again, and she was still breathing, but he thought (and he wasn't sure if it was just his imagination or not) Dory was having a harder time breathing than ever before. 

**A/N: **Sorry that was short. I'm make it up in the next chapter, okies? Anyway, please leave a review on your way out! J


	3. Off to See the Wizard

**A/N:**Okay, I know that it says there are four chapters and there's really only three. I have no clue why it's doing that, or how to change it. I happened when I uploaded and added chapter 2 for the first time, and it wouldn't show. So I added it again, and it showed up, and so it put that there were three chapters. I even went to try and take it off, but it wasn't there. Chapter 2 only showed up once. So that's the back round on that…

Okay, for some unknown reason, I can't post up my songfic I told you all about in my bio. So I posted it on the Finding Nemo forum. So, if you've never been there, then join through the link in my bio. Or if you just wanna read my story, please e-mail me at spikes_and_stripes560@yahoo.com

**Disclaimer:**See chapter 1

**Chapter 3 – "Off to See the Wizard"**

"What happened?"

Nemo's question popped from his mouth the second he saw Dory lying unconscious outside his home. Marlin stood next to his son, looking at Dory. He sighed and told Nemo what happened.

The look on Nemo's face was that of shock, but he didn't say anything.

Marlin looked back down to Dory. He was very worried. He didn't know how much longer Dory could stay like this without any help or something. He didn't even know weather she would need anything at all. Maybe all she needed was a good night's sleep… but maybe not. Marlin had never dealt with this before. 

"So what do we do?" Nemo asked.

Marlin replied, "I… I'm not sure. I guess I should ask someone if they know what to do, but I don't know who would know about this kind of thing."

It was quiet for a few seconds and then something clicked in Nemo's head. "Oh, Dad! I remembered something! Sandy Plankton told me that when his mom was sick, his Dad talked to the… Medicine Wizard," he told him. 

"Really?" Marlin asked. Nemo nodded. "Well, did he tell you where this wizard is?" Marlin asked. Nemo paused for a moment, and thought very hard, trying to remember.

"Oh, yeah! He said that he lives at Shelter Mountain Reef," Nemo informed. Marlin silently thanked that it wasn't hundreds of miles away. Not that he wouldn't go that distance for Dory's safety, but he didn't think she would last that long (that is, if the whole situation was as serious as Marlin thought).

Yes, Shelter Mountain Reef was only about a daylong trip, and if he left now, he could get there by early evening if he hurried. 

"Okay, Nemo," Marlin said, picking up Dory. "Come with me. We're gonna go see Crush, and you're going to stay with him while I go see the wizard," he explained as Nemo swam beside. 

Crush had moved to reef about a day after Marlin had returned home. His home was in a large cave that was only a short distance from Nemo's school. 

When Marlin and Nemo arrived there, no one was outside. So Marlin called into the entrance, "Crush?"

At first, it was quiet, but then Crush came out of the cave, followed by his son, Squirt. "What's up, Jelly Man?" Crush greeted, then he saw Dory. "What happened to Little Blue?" he then asked. 

"She got hurt – Nemo will tell you the whole story. Well, I came to ask for a favor, Crush," Marlin said. Crush grinned. "Ask away, dude."

Marlin chuckled. "I have to go and talk to this… Medicine Wizard so I can help Dory, and I was wondering if you could watch them while I'm gone… Nemo and Dory, I mean." 

Squirt's eyes lit up. "Ooh, will you, Dad? Huh, Dad? Please? Let Nemo stay!" he begged, jumping up and down. Crush laughed his Californian laugh and said, "Shaw! I'd be glad to watch the little dude and Blue for ya, man!"

Nemo and Squirt whooped with joy. 

"Thanks, Crush. I'll be back in about two days, at the longest," he told the sea turtle. Crush simply nodded. 

"Now, you be good, Nemo," Marlin told his son, hugging him goodbye. Returning the hug, Nemo just said, "I will, Dad. Bye."

"Bye, Nemo," Marlin replied. As he left, everyone was waving to him (except Dory, of course), and he waved back. Soon, Crush's cave was out of sight, and Marlin was on his way to Shelter Mountain Reef.

Not long after that, Marlin was unable to see any part of the reef, and he was out in open ocean. He hated being there, despite his attitude change. He guessed it was because it reminded him of everything horrible that had happened, so he couldn't really blame himself.

But no matter how much he despised being there, he knew he didn't have a choice if he wanted to save Dory. He knew there was a fifty-fifty chance of her being just fine the next morning, but Marlin wasn't about to take that chance. Because if he were to, and it turned out that she _did_ need help, but it would be too late because he waited, then he wouldn't never be able to forgive himself. 

Dory was the best friend he's had since Coral died, and he wasn't going to let anything bad happen to her if he could help it. 

With nothing else to really think about, Marlin looked back at when he had first met Dory. Marlin had first thought that she was crazy. It had been because of her memory problem that had gotten them into trouble, and almost near death situations. And because of this, Marlin couldn't help but not really trust her. But after the incident with the jellyfish, Marlin learned to listen when she said everything was going to be okay. 

In the end, they had become very, very close. About as close as you can get, when it comes to friends. _In fact, _Marlin thought. _If we were any closer, than people would think that we loved each other… I mean, we _do _love each other, but not as more than just friends. We have kind of a brother/sister bond._

Marlin felt that he was doing this for Dory not just because he was her friend, but for another reason. He thought that he really owed her something. Something to pay back for how much she helped him to find Nemo. He had thanked her once, but he knew he had to give her more than that.

One side of him told him that helping her now was just how to thank her. But another side was telling him something else. It was saying that this wasn't enough. He had to give her something that would prove he cared about her. He had to give her something that nobody else in the world could. But what?

**A/N:**Do I really have to tell you to give me a review? You people have been leaving so many nice reviews; I think I'll let you do it on your own, okies? 


	4. The Wizard at Shelter Mountain Reef

**A/N:**I just got back from camp. Thought you might like to know. Do you care? I don't know. 

Anyway, this is chapter four, and there are ONLY four… not five, like the stupid thing says. Okies?

**Disclaimer:**See chapter one.

Chapter 4 – "The Wizard at Shelter Mountain Reef" 

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It was mid afternoon. Marlin had spent all night traveling, knowing that if he even tried to sleep, he wouldn't be able to. He would be to worried that he was wasting time, so as you could guess, he was quite tired. 

To his surprise, the trip had been very peaceful. He didn't run into anything dangerous… or anything at all, for that matter. The only thing he had passed was a couple schools of moonfish, but that was it. He hadn't even asked for directions, for he had been to Shelter Mountain Reef once before… with Coral. 

It had been their honeymoon. It was actually a very big and beautiful part of the ocean, and they had stayed there for two nights, but Marlin didn't remember anything about a Medicine Wizard being there.

A couple more hours went by before there was any sign of Shelter Mountain Reef being anywhere nearby: there was now a lot more fish swimming around. Then Marlin saw the familiar tunnel that lead into the reef. He slowly swam through it, followed by two angelfish, and in front of him was family of shrimp. In fact, he seemed to be the only one alone. 

Once through the tunnel and finally in the reef, Marlin looked around at everything. Above him, there were electric eels in cages attached to the tops of long posts, and they continually flashed their electricity to produce light. There was a post about every five feet, so the place was very well lit. Next to each cage was a lobster, obviously there to stand guard incase one got out. This made Marlin feel a little bit more safe, but uncertain, nonetheless.

Marlin looked behind him at the water past the tunnel; it was dark with the time of night, but Shelter Mountain Reef was very bright. He looked back in front of him and swam forward. All around him, fish were scurrying past him. At one point, he was almost knocked over by a huge school of butterfly fish, they were going so fast. He noticed alot of manta rays (a little bit smaller than Nemo's teacher, Mr. Ray) that were the object of transportation here. They would stop where a group of fish were and they would all get on it's back and it would swim off again. There were also a lot of caves and tunnels where he watched a lot of fish go in, and there was one tunnel where he saw a lot of bigger looking fish get kicked out. Marlin looked and looked for any signs of a Medicine Wizard, or any kind of wizard, but couldn't. So he decided to ask around.

The first fish he came to that looked nice enough to help was a small royal gamma. 

"Hi, my name's Marlin, and I was wondering –," Marlin was cut short when the gamma started to cry. "Oh, hey, don't cry…" It was then that a bigger gamma came over, looking mad.

"How dare you! Torturing little children!" it exclaimed in a female voice. This one had to be the little one's mother. Marlin was awestruck. "But, I didn't --," he tried, but the two had already swam away. Marlin sighed and turned to find himself face-to-face with what he almost thought was a mirror. But then he realized it was just another clown fish. 

"You need help?" he asked. It took Marlin a second to reply, and when he did he also said, "I'm Marlin, and I need --,"

"Marlin? Hey, you're not _the _Marlin are you?" he interrupted.

"What do you mean?" Marlin asked, confused.

"I mean, you're not the Marlin that everyone was talking about a few days back, are you? The one who was fighting the whole ocean to find his son?" 

Then Marlin remembered what Nemo told him about how we was this huge hero and everyone knew about him and Dory's journey to save Nemo. "Oh! Yeah, that's me. Now could you…"

The clown fish's eyes grew wide. "No way!" he exclaimed. 

Marlin rolled his eyes. "Yes way, now could you _please_ help me?!" Marlin practically shouted the question. He couldn't help it; he needed help, and all this fish cared about was his fame. The clown fish held up his fins in a surrendering motion.

"Okay, okay. Now what is it you need?" he asked. 

"Do you know where I can find the Medicine Wizard?" Marlin asked him. The clown fish grew quiet for minute, and then he looked as if something clicked inside his head. "Oh, yeah! I know where you can find him! You see that small tunnel over there?" he asked, pointing at something behind Marlin. He turned and saw the tunnel he was pointing at, which was so small it was almost hard to see. 

Marlin nodded. "Yeah, I see it."

"Well, go down there, follow the passage until you come to a spot where there's four different ways to go, and go left. Then you'll find him right at the end of that passage, got it?" he said. 

"Yeah. And, thanks," Marlin said. The fish nodded. "No problem. Hope she gets better!" He added the last part as Marlin was swimming away. Marlin was about to turn around and assure him that Dory would be fine, but then he realized: he hadn't told him about Dory. 

"How did he…" Marlin wondered aloud, but when he did turn around, the clown fish was gone.

Shaking it off, Marlin continued to swim towards the small tunnel. _No wonder I didn't hear anything about this guy when I was here before. I never would have noticed it, _he thought. Because when he was in front of the tunnel, it looked even smaller than when he was looking at it from a distance, and when he went into it, he only had a couple inches of space between him and the wall. He wondered how any other kind of fish would be able to come to see him.

Marlin had only been in the tunnel for a short time when he came up to the four-way intersection he had been told about. He went left, as the clown fish had directed, and that passage definitely seemed longer. Marlin almost thought that it wasn't going to end, but then he saw a small light coming from the end of the tunnel. He swam faster, anxious to see this guy and leave. When he got to the end, he looked to the right and saw that it opened into a huge room. The ceiling had to be at least ten feet above him.

Marlin looked in awe at the huge room, but his mouth gaped open when he saw the giant creature in front of him. Because of the animal's size, Marlin almost sped out of the room, but then he realized that it was an octopus. But he was still a little frightened. 

"Are, are you the, uh… Medicine Wizard?" Marlin finally managed to choke out. 

The octopus stirred. "Ah, yes. You're Marlin," he said in a scratchy voice. Marlin raised an eyebrow.

"How do you --,"

"Know your name? Malachi told me you were coming," he said and then added, "Malachi is the clown fish you met who told you how to find me." Marlin stared blankly at him and then simply said, "Oh."

"Now then… what have you come for?" the wizard asked. 

Marlin paused before answering. "Oh, yeah. Well, my friend --,"

"And what is your friend's name?" the wizard interrupted. "Her name is Dory," Marlin replied.

"Okay, continue," he said. 

"Anyway, well, we were taking a swim, and we went to this part of the reef to be alone…" Marlin paused for a second, noticing how weird that sounded. "… And there was this barracuda, and panicking, I told her to get into this anemone that was nearby. Well, we both got to safety inside the anemone, and that's when I realized that only clown fish can go into anemones… she's a blue tang, by the way. And I'm here to ask how I can help her. That is… if she needs help."

The octopus nodded and didn't say anything for quite some time. Then just when Marlin was about to ask again, the wizard turned around to what Marlin now saw was a large cabinet. 

"I'm out of what you need…" Marlin heard him say. The wizard closed the cabinet doors and turned back to Marlin, who looked like he was going to flip out any second. "But I know where you _can _get her medicine. Here," he said, handing Marlin a small bag and a flat rock. 

"The bag is for carrying that rock, and the ingredients to make the antidote. On the rock is the list of what you'll need and where to get them," he told Marlin.

"You mean Dory's gonna have to wait even longer? What if it's too late by the time I get all this stuff?" Marlin asked worryingly. 

"Don't worry. There are seven items on that list, and if you obtain one each day, you'll be back in time to give it to her. In other words, she'll be able to last for one week, and if she doesn't get the medicine by midnight on the seventh day, then it will be too late, and she will be gone," he informed him. Marlin simply nodded, trying his best not to think about that.

"You care about this girl, don't you?" he asked. 

"Of course I do," Marlin said. "Just how much?" the wizard wondered aloud. _What's this guy getting at?_ Marlin thought.

"Well, next to my son, she's the most important person in my life. And I'd do anything to make sure that she's okay," Marlin said. "Does that answer your question?"

"Yes, _that _question. I've got just one more to ask: you've been hurt before, haven't you?" 

Marlin was shocked. How could he know about… "Yes. My wife was killed by a barracuda, along with all our eggs, except one," Marlin told him. He shook his head. "Why do you need to know all this stuff?" Marlin asked.

"I'm just making sure that you'll be able to give your friend the medicine if and when you do," he stated. Marlin was definitely confused now. "What do you mean?"

"You'll find out in time, Marlin. In time. Now go get some rest and the second you wake up in the morning, Dory's clock will start ticking."

Marlin nodded slowly and left the room without a last glance. The trip out of the tunnel seemed a lot shorter than when he had gone in. And he was relieved to finally be out. Marlin left the city and found a clear spot behind a patch of brain coral to sleep. And to his own surprise, Marlin fell into a deep, peaceful sleep.

**A/N:**I'm sorry I took so long for this chapter, but out internet was down last night, and I hadn't realized how long it had been since my last update until yesterday. I hope the length of this chapter made up for it!


	5. The First Nightmare Task One

**A/N:**Okay, just as a warning: this will be the first chapter with magic kind of stuff. As in, things that don't normally happen. I shall add fantasy into the action/adventure/romance genre, okies?

Once again, I shall thank my wonderful, wonderful reviewers!

**Disclaimer:**See chapter 1

Chapter 5 – "The First Nightmare – Task One" 

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_Everything was black and there was nothing and no one around. Marlin looked in all directions, and even below him there was nothing but darkness. All was still and the only thing he could hear was his own breathing. "Where am I?" he muttered._

Seconds later, he saw what looked like a group of fish in the distance. Curious, Marlin started toward the crowd, and he realized that he recognized the fish. The members of the "tank gang," Nemo and his three friends (as well as their fathers) Crush, Squirt, and even Bruce, Chum, and Anchor. They were all formed in a circle and were staring down at something with frowns on their faces. 

_It took Marlin an eternity (or so, it seemed) to finally get over to the group. He came up from behind Gill, went past him, and looked down in horror at what they were all staring at._

Dory was lying (or floating, since there was nothing beneath them) in the middle of the circle with deep wounds all over her body. 

_"Dory!" Marlin screamed, rushing to her side. _

_To his relief, Dory was still breathing, but barely. He felt tears start to form in his eyes. "Dory?… Dory, can you hear me?" he asked her. For a moment, nothing happened, but then Dory's eyes fluttered open and she looked around. When she looked at Marlin, she smiled._

_"Oh, Dory. I'm so glad you're alright. What happened?" he said. She didn't respond. She just stared at him with an awestruck look on her face. She held out her fin, silently asking for him to take it – and he did._

_"I have to leave now, Marlin," Dory whispered sadly. Marlin look alarmed. "What do you mean?" he asked._

_Dory frowned. "I'm dying, Marlin. I can feel it," she told him. Marlin gawked at her, knowing this couldn't be true. None of this could be happening… _

_"No, Dory… you can't. I – I need you," he said, tears now flowing down his cheeks freely. He saw tears start to form in Dory's eyes too. _

_'And…?' asked a little voice in Marlin's head. 'There's something else you want to tell her, isn't there?' it taunted. 'And you know she doesn't have much more time left, so tell her now if ever.'_

_Marlin was quite for a few seconds. He looked at Dory for what he knew was the last time. He choked a sob down and opened his mouth. _

_"Dory, you helped me so much, and I don't know, and I don't think I ever will know, how to properly thank you. You're my best friend and always will be. But you know that already. I want you to know that, Dory, I…"_

---

Marlin's eyes jerked open and were as large as saucers. He looked in all directions two times before getting up from his sleeping spot behind the coral. It took him a second to remember why he had gotten up so suddenly. His thoughts drifted back to his dream… his nightmare.

"Just a nightmare…" he reassured himself. "It was all just a silly nightmare caused from my worrying about Dory."

But there was something nagging at him, telling him that there was more to that dream than just his worries about Dory's safety. Though he couldn't think of what it could be. He was going to try and figure it out, but then he remembered what the wizard had told him about when he got up, Dory's clock would start ticking. There was no time to waste.

Picking up the bag that was next to him, Marlin took out the flat rock and looked at it. It read,

_Ingredient 1: Majestic's Golden Kelp_

_Ingredient 2: The Powder Root of Moesko Caves_

_Ingredient 3: The Ink of the Giant Squid_

_Ingredient 4: Celestia's Magic Coral_

_Ingredient 5: The Blood of an Electric Eel_

_Ingredient 6: A Strand of Hair from a Mermaid_

_Ingredient 7: ---------------_

Marlin stared at the blank space where the seventh ingredient should have been. _Great, now what do I do? I was told that there needed to be seven things in this medicine, and there only six listed… _Marlin began to feel a panic fit coming on. He fought it down, and tried his best to think of something. 

Then, with a hopeful look on his face, Marlin flipped over the rock to it's backside. But when he saw it was blank, his heart sank even more. "What is the seventh ingredient?" he scolded to no one.

Then, to Marlin's disbelief, golden letters started to appear slowly on the back of the rock. 

_The truth of number seven _

_Is not yet needed for now_

_For it's meaning will come to you very soon_

_And only then will your heart allow_

Marlin watched, dumbfounded, as the letters slowly dissolved into the rock. He didn't move for a while, just staring at the rock. When he finally returned to his senses, he realized that not only did words just appear out of nowhere on the rock, but he could also _read _them. How, he did not know, but somehow, he could understand what they said. And he also just then realized that the list of ingredients were in human writing, yet he read those too. Something strange was definitely going on…

Slowly, half expecting it to do something else weird, Marlin turned the rock over to it's front and saw something that wasn't there before: where the first ingredient was written, the letters were glowing red. Subconsciously, he lightly touched the letters with his fin.

He wasn't ready for what happened next. The second his fin met the rock, everything froze for a second, and then the scenery around him started to spin. Marlin wanted to look around, but his eyes were glued to where his fin touched the rock. And not only could he not move his head, but his whole body seemed to be frozen too. The swirling around him started to make him feel light headed, and he was relieved when he saw everything start to slow down again. 

He blinked. Guessing that what ever just happened was over, he looked around (glad that he could move again) in awe. Marlin was now in a completely different place now. Everything was a bright emerald green and the sand underneath him was black. Looking behind him, Marlin found the source of the bright green all around him. It was what seemed to be a huge structure of coral (it was so high that he could barely see the top), which was giving off the emerald light.  

Marlin gaped at the castle-like structure; he had never seen anything like it. He probably would have continued to stare if it wasn't for the lionfish that came out from the large opening of the castle. It made a gesture at Marlin, telling him to come over. And when he got there, Marlin kept as far away from the lionfish as possible; he knew that they were poisonous.

"What do you want?" the fish asked in a gruff voice. 

"… Uh, I'm here to see…" Marlin quickly looked at the rock that was still in his hands. "… Majestic. Did I come to the right place?" Marlin asked.

"Follow me," he replied. Marlin took that as a yes and followed him into the castle. It was only for about five minutes that Marlin followed the lionfish through the glowing tunnel before they came to a dead end. Marlin raised an eyebrow.

"Wait here," he commanded. 

Marlin obeyed and gasped as the lionfish went straight through the wall. He waited for a short time and then the lionfish came back through the wall. Marlin looked up at him.

"This way," he instructed. "Now all you have to do to make it through the wall is think of something happy. If you let the tiniest bit of unpleasantness creep into your head, I can't guarantee you making it to the other side."

Marlin gulped and nodded. The lionfish disappeared behind the wall again. Marlin hesitated for a second, thinking of something happy. The thought of Dory being better when he brought her the medicine came to him and he smiled – which he realized was something he hadn't done in a while. 

Marlin took a deep breath, let it go, and then swam into the wall. 

The feeling of it was hard to describe, but you could say that the wall felt like a thin layer of slime, or mud. And when Marlin got all the way through the wall, everything was very, very dark. He kept swimming, and soon he found himself singing that song (quietly) that Dory sung to him when he was upset. When he thought of Dory, he felt happier. But then, the image of her still, unconscious body flashed through his mind.

Suddenly, Marlin saw gray smoke start to rise all around him. Then he heard something that sounded an awful lot like screaming… Dory screaming! Marlin began to panic and try to swim away, but whatever the smoke was, was keeping him in place. 

_"If you let the tiniest bit of unpleasantness creep into your head, I can't guarantee you making it to the other side."_

The lionfish's words went through Marlin head. Then Marlin quickly thought of Dory being alive again, and the screaming sound ceased and the gray smoke disappeared. Breathing heavily, he continued swimming, and felt the next wall. He went through it and into a large room that had the same glowing color. The lionfish was standing next to him.

"First time isn't always easy," he commented. Marlin agreed in his head, knowing that he was talking about going through that horrible tunnel. 

"I'm surprised you even made it through."

Marlin looked around; that voice hadn't come from the lionfish, because it was sly sounding and came from a female. That was when another, much bigger, lionfish came through the wall in front of Marlin and the other lionfish, taking a spot five feet away from Marlin. (Marlin was starting to get used to fish popping in and out of nowhere…)

Marlin guessed that this fish was Majestic because her next words were, "You've come to see me?"

"Um… yeah. I need your, uh… Golden Kelp," Marlin replied, looking at his rock again. "And what purpose do you need me Kelp for? It is very valuable," she said.

"It's for my friend's medicine."

"Ah, and you're going to tell me that you care about this friend, even though she needs this medicine because of your careless act?" she inquired.

Marlin turned wide eyed and Majestic smirked. He pushed aside feeling of confusion of how she could know about what happened, and replaced it with a feeling of hurt and guilt. He was well aware that it was because of him that Dory needed help, but that didn't mean he didn't care about her!

"Now, you listen here!" Marlin exclaimed at her. "I admit that I made a mistake  -- a mistake that endangered Dory's life! But that last thing that means is that I don't care about her well being! I mean, God, if she would die, I don't know what I'd do! If you think I don't care about her, then you tell me why I'm bothering to get her medicine!" 

She smirked again and three pieces of gold kelp appeared between her and Marlin. "Go ahead and take it," she said. "Most people wouldn't have stood up to me like you did. You've earned the right to have the Golden Kelp."

Marlin stood still for a moment before taking the kelp and putting it into his bag. "Uh, thanks," Marlin said with fake gratefulness. He didn't much like her, but he didn't think he would make many good friends on _this _journey…

**A/N: **Whew! I'm finally done! *jumps for joy* I really hope you liked it! I know how Marlin got the kelp was kind of simple, but hey, Hercules finished half of his labors just by asking…

**Disclaimer: **If you haven't noticed by now, I've been using places and events from "Harry Potter" and "The Ring." I got Shelter Mountain Reef from and Moesko Caves from 'The Ring' (as in Shelter Mountain Inn, and Meosko Island). For 'Harry Potter' I got the teleporting rock idea from portkeys, and that tunnel Marlin went though was a dementor type thing. And so, I will say that nothing from 'The Ring' or 'Harry Potter' belong to me.


	6. At Moesko Caves: Part I

**A/N:**I'm SO sorry for the long wait on this chapter! It's been really crazy, since I'm getting ready to go on vacation soon today. I promised myself that I'd get this chapter up before I left, though. I wouldn't let you guys go through another week without an update, now would I? 

**Disclaimer:**See chapter 1

Chapter 6 – "The Moesko Caves: Part I" 

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Once out of Majestic's castle, Marlin was outside with the black sand and glowing light, which was starting to give him a headache. He was surprised to see that the sun had already gone down. He looked at his rock again and read the next item on the list: The Powder Root of Moesko Caves.

Remembering how he had gotten to this place, Marlin now knew what to do. Gritting his teeth and bracing himself, Marlin touch the words, and once again everything around him swirled, and he was frozen in place. 

A few minutes later, everything went back to normal. _That wasn't half as bad as the last trip… _Marlin thought bitterly. 

He looked around to his new surroundings. Where he was, there was nothing below him. As a matter of fact, there wasn't any bottom as far as he could see. He was in open water. He was vaguely reminded of his nightmare the previous night, but at least everything wasn't black. It still looked like the ocean, anyhow.

_Now where do I go? _Marlin mentally asked. But then he thought of how the last time he was teleported, it had taken him right outside where he needed to go. So he figured that where ever Moesko Caves was, was nearby. But the problem was, that there was nothing around for miles. So, thinking for a minute, Marlin decided to try swimming down to see where it leads. 

Marlin started down, feeling nervous. Once all the light was gone and he could see nothing, he was more alert for predators. He didn't want a reenactment of the anglerfish incident… and who knew what else was lurking down there in the dark? Marlin really didn't want to find out. All he wanted was to see if he was going in the right direction, or not. 

At long last, Marlin felt himself run into the bottom. He groaned in pain, for the ground consisted of sharp rocks. He squinted in the darkness, but he was still unable to anything.

_Just great, _he thought. _How am I going to know if this is the right way if I can't see a darn thing?!_

Suddenly, a luminous light came from Marlin's bag. He opened it up to find that it was his rock that was glowing. When he took it out of the bag, the light spilled over everything within ten feet of him. He shook his head, trying hard as to come used to these weird impossible things happening. 

So he looked in one direction and saw nothing. Looking in the opposite direction, he still saw nothing. But when he turned a little to the left, Marlin saw the wall of the cliff, along with a giant hole in it – a cave.

"That must be it," Marlin whispered to himself. 

Slowly, Marlin made his way over to the huge opening and looked inside. From where he was, nothing could be seen, so he went in further until he came to something. There were five different passages along the wall, all obviously leading different ways. Marlin let out a frustrated sigh, but then he remembered something.

Looking at the rock, he asked, "Which way to I go?"

For a second, nothing happened, but then the bright light of the rock went out, and Marlin was left in darkness again. Then, just as expected, shining golden letters appeared on the rock.

Center 

Then the words disappeared again, and the light came back, lighting up the cave. Marlin paused for a minute, and then swam down the center passage, as instructed.  

**A/N: ** Oh my God, I'm SOOOOOOO sorry this is so short! I started writing this about 4hours ago, went to do something else and completely forgot about it! And now I've got about 15 minutes until I leave for vacation, so that's why I couldn't finish it! I'm sorry! 


	7. At Moesko Caves: Part II

**A/N:** Wow, it seems like it's been forever since I last updated this, hasn't it? Well, truth time… for a long while, I planned on canceling this story, so I didn't bother with writing any new chapters. So that's why there was a huge delay between the previous chapter, and this one. But, just last night I re-read what I had written of this story and got back the inspiration I needed to continue with this! I just hope I don't cancel any of my other in-progress fanfics for this coming back. Right now, with this fanfic re-added to my list, I'm working on three stories at once. Eek, that's way too many… a lot more than I ever thought I'd be able to handle.

Now, you're probably wondering why all the reviews are gone, and the number of chapters is back to normal. Well, while trying to add this chapter, something on the site said an error occurred, so (and I'm guessing this happened the first time the chapter numbers messed up) it said I added the chapter there, but it wasn't there. So this time, instead of being only one number off, it would have been two, so I just decided to delete the whole story and repost all the chapters, including this one. But I did write down that I left of with a grand total of 58 WONDERFUL reviews. So I'll just keep track and add from there.

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**Disclaimer:**See the first chapter.

Chapter – "At Moesko Caves: Part II" 

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Marlin was very greatful for the 'rock-light' he had, because the tunnel was pitch black, and turns seemed to come out of nowhere. And each turn was so sharp, and came so often, that Marlin felt like he was in a maze. But because that sounded too difficult, he pushed the idea away.

For the first longer part of the passage he was traveling, it was all one way. But soon enough, a split in the path appeared. But, thinking he knew what to do, Marlin asked the rock which way to go. As expected, the golden letters appeared – as another poem.

You are indeed in a maze 

_Just as you believed _

_But I cannot tell which way is right,_

_The right way to leave_

Marlin sighed dejectedly. "Great," he whispered to the ground. "Just great… I don't know which way to go…" He stayed still for a while and thought of which direction to take. Since everything happening on this journey was out of the ordinary, he figured that maybe he should take past advice to find which way would most likely be correct.

_Left or right_ Marlin asked himself. He knew one would lead him to the Powder Root that he came here for, and the other would lead him some place he didn't want to know… or find out. He had a feeling that this was going to be the first and only split path he was going to come to (if he took the right passage). So, he thought and thought for what felt like at least an hour. He tried to remember anything that someone in his past could have said that would somehow help him.

Then, at long last, it hit Marlin like a bag of shells. It was something that Coral had said to him long ago.

"Marlin? If we ever got married and lived together… then I would want to live on the East side of the reef. That place is so nice and peaceful… good things always seem to happen there."

Coral had said good things happened on the East Side. And East was in the right direction, so…. taking a deep breath, Marlin swam down the right tunnel. At first, nothing different happened from the last tunnel, but slowly, the light from his rock dimmed, and eventually went out. Marlin grunted, wondering what to do now. But without much of a choice, he just kept swimming, but very slowly to prevent running into anything… or anyone. Then, he saw why the rock had gone out: the tunnel was now glowing a bright blue. Curious, Marlin continued to swim down the passage, praying that nothing was going to pop out at him. 

Then, Marlin reached a dead end. "Oh no," he moaned. He had taken the wrong passage! No, no! He grew even more frustrated than before, and dropped the rock on the ground. Then, just to let out his anger, Marlin turned and began to hit his head repeatedly against the wall. 

Marlin continued to do this for quite some time, but finally stopped when he heard Dory's voice behind him. She was calling his name! Marlin spun around and his eyes widened at what he saw.

The rock that he dropped had a silver beam of light coming from it, and where the ray stopped, was a glowing ball with the image of Dory sleeping inside of it. She remained still, but he heard very clearly, her voice calling out to him. So, without thinking, he replied back, "Dory?"

"Marlin…" she said again. "Marlin, where did you go?" 

Marlin was confused beyond all possibility, but he was going to leave all questions for later. Now, he had a way of speaking to Dory. "I'm here, Dory. You just can't see me," he answered. For a while, she didn't say anything, but she did ask him, "Why did you leave, Marlin?"

"No, Dory, I didn't leave you. I'm just away to help you with your sickness," he said comfortingly. He wanted desperately to reach out and touch her… make her feel better; she sounded so distraught. But he knew that wasn't possible now. He could only talk to her. Yet, he was very grateful for even this.

After Dory didn't reply for a while, Marlin decided to say something. "Dory… I want to apologize for all of this," he said quietly. "It's all my fault that you're seriously injured…"

"Don't blame yourself for anything," he heard Dory tell him. _Good old Dory _he thought. _Always so forgiving and kind…_

"Marlin?"

He looked up to the glowing sphere. "Yes?" 

"Marlin, I've been wanting to tell you something…" she told him. Marlin nodded and asked, "What is it?"

She was quiet for a little it, probably thinking over what she was going to say. "Well, I wanted to thank you for… everything. You… you showed me what it's like to have a true friend, and completely changed my life. I mean, if I hadn't run into you that day, then I'd probably still be all alone, my memory problem even more severe. But, because of you, so many good things happened. I'm… well, I'm everything I am because of you."

Marlin smiled as she said her words. "Dory, you changed my life a lot too. If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have gotten Nemo back, or turned me into a better father," he said with true honesty. "Dory, I promise I'll get back to you before it's too late. You mean way too much to me for that to happen. If… you left me, I don't know what I'd do. I…" he went quiet, leaving the rest of his sentence hanging.

"What?" Dory asked, a tiny bit of hopefulness sounding off in her voice. Marlin shook his head and said, "I don't know." It was true, he really didn't know what he was going to say. The 'I' had just escaped his mouth without a finishing word to follow. Subconsciously, almost. 

"Oh," she said. He heard her take a deep breath. "You know, Marlin, you're my best friend. But it feels like there's something else there between us. It's really confusing, but it's like… well, whenever I hug Nemo, it feels complete. But when I hug you, it feels like there's something missing… something that should be there that isn't," she said in a concentrated voice. She sounded like she was trying hard to think of something.

Marlin comprehended very well what she was talking about, for he felt the exact same way. Something always seemed missing whenever he was with Dory. And it felt like there was something other than friendship between them. 

"Yeah, I feel the same way, Dory. I know exactly what you mean, but I'm just as confused as you."

Then, Marlin noticed that the sphere was starting to get dim, and the light was starting to leave him. This had to mean that he was going to have to stop the conversation soon.

"Dory, I have to go now. I don't want to, but I don't have a choice," he told her. "Okay," she said, sounding disappointed. 

"Dory, just hold on. I'll be back soon, I promise."

"Okay, Marlin," she said. "I… I love you… goodbye…"

Then, before he had time to answer back, the sphere disappeared along with the ray of light. Marlin just stood there, completely dumbfounded at Dory's last words. Then, he didn't even notice a small green bag appear in front of him.

~*~

The green bag turned out to have the Power Root inside it. After Marlin collected it, he left the tunnel, and was soon out of the cave and back in the darkness of the crevice. He swam upwards until the scenery of the ocean came back into view. It was dark now, and he was very exhausted and thoroughly confused.

Dory had said she loved him. Did she mean that she loved him as a friend… or something else? Marlin's head was spinning with all the questions running through his head… too many to handle. He shook his head, trying to push away what had happened. He didn't need to think of this now. He would ask her about it when he got back. For now, the only concern time would allow him to have was about getting Dory's medicine back to her before it was too late. 


	8. Ink from the Squid

**A/N:**I apologize SO very much for the delay of this chapter. I have been MAJORLY lazy with everything lately (including schoolwork), and I know it. I know that I did write two TLK fanfics while being lazy, though -____- *walks away ashamed* So being lazy mixed in with my new obsession with TLK didn't help get this chapter out any sooner. I still have a loving passion for Nemo, don't worry. So this story (along with 'all you wanted') will continue. 

**Disclaimer:**See chapter 1

Chapter 8 – "Ink from the Squid" 

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Knowing it was no use; Marlin let himself float down to the bottom of the whale's mouth. Everything around him sort of disappeared once he touched the bottom, and he closed his eye, fighting back tears of frustration. A few seconds later, he heard Dory's voice next to him. 

"There, there, there. It's alright," she told him sweetly. "It'll be okay." He shook his head, not wanting to yell at her anymore. "No," he said weakly. "No it won't."

"Sure it will," she pressed. "You'll see." 

Marlin wished she would just give it up already. She had to find out sooner or later that life wasn't perfect, ad that bad things happen. And this case, nothing 'okay' was going to come out of this. Though deep down, he was happy to find another friend before he died. He had almost forgotten what it had felt like to have a true friend.

"No… I promised him I'd never let anything happen to him," he said more to himself than to her. She was quiet for a moment as he finally let his eyes open. 

"Well," she started, looking away from him. "You can't never let anything happen to him. Then nothing would ever happen to him."

That got his attention. She really had a point, there, believe it or not. Dory was actually… right. She hadn't taken what he said the correct way, but what she said made sense. He had been to overprotective of Nemo. And that was why he had gone out to the boat in the first place. And how this whole thing star –,"

Marlin's thoughts were interrupted when he looked at Dory. She was smiling softly at him, and in that split second, he felt a newfound emotion pass through him very strongly. He was in a dazed state for a moment until she said,

"Not much for fun for little Harpo."

Her mistaking Nemo's name (again) pulled him out of the strange feeling. He just sighed and looked back at the ground. He didn't want to think about the awkward moment that had just taken place, but he couldn't help it. It had been so… he didn't even know how to describe. 

Marlin shook it off, knowing it had probably just been a spur-of-the-moment type thing. He thought it would never happen again.

… But he was wrong.

~~~

His dream ending, Marlin opened his eyes slowly. He blinked a few times as the sunlight filled his eyes. As he let them adjust to the light, he yawned and got up from the ground. 

Knowing that the clock was still ticking, Marlin didn't want to think over his dream. It had just been a memory, anyway. It was nothing….

He shook his head and pulled out the flat rock, looking for what he had to retrieve this day. He scanned down past the two items he had gotten already, and he stopped at,

Ink of the Giant Squid

Marlin let out a tired sigh and he looked up with a 'you've gotta be kidding me' look. He knew this task was coming, but he didn't want it to come so soon. But he guessed that getting it over with now was better than having to do it last.

Not about to waste any time, Marlin touched the words with the tip of his fin. He let himself be carried away by the force of the rock, and in only a matter of seconds, the twirling around him stopped and everything came into view.

He was getting more used to those trips. 

He looked around and could only see murky waters in front and all around him. The only thing he could make out was the surface of the water, and a very, very, very large cave in front of him.

Marlin gaped at the size of the cave. He felt like he was swimming right next to one of those human boats that make the loud honking noise. Shaking slightly, he took a deep breath, and went inside. Once darkness completely surrounded him, the rock lit up, allowing him to see again. 

He didn't swim for very long before he ran into something…. Squishy. He was hesitant in backing up to see what it was, but when he did, he gulped as he felt his blood run cold.

As he held the light up to see, he saw one gigantic eye. The giant, yellow eye stared at Marlin angrily before he heard a low growl come from where the eye was. Well, I guess that's the squid, Marlin thought to himself. He was frozen for only a moment more before he turned around and sped back in the direction of the cave opening.

Once out of the cave, Marlin turned to look as the enormous, red monster followed. The tiny clownfish was but a mere speck compared to the squid, and Marlin could only hope for a miracle to get what he needed. 

Looking around for something that might help him, Marlin didn't see anything. So how was he going to get the ink? He knew that squids, or octopuses only let out their ink in defense, or if they're frightened. So if he could somehow scare the thing…

But how a tiny fish was going to scare a giant squid was beyond him. Though he knew he had no choice but to try.

It was for Dory.

With a sudden burst of determination, Marlin took off in the direction of the cave wall. He planned that if he could get the squid to run into the rock, it would surprise it enough to squirt out the ink. 

He continued to swim until he was as close to rock as he could get without smashing into it himself. At the last second, Marlin bolted upwards, narrowly avoiding the rock wall. But his plan didn't work out the way he wanted it. The squid had enough agility to turn in time before hitting the wall also.

As the squid took after him again, Marlin swam upwards more. He swam around in all directions, just to have time to think of a plan, while not getting killed at the same time. Hew kept looking everywhere, for anything that would have the slightest chance of helping in the least - a miracle.

Then, looking up at the surface, Marlin saw it: a large fishing boat. If there was one thing that could scare any sea creature, it was humans, and their need to study everything new. And even the fishes of the sea knew that the giant squid was a popular legend.

Marlin swam up to the surface and poked his head out of the water. The squid was right beneath him, so he had to move to the side a bit. When the squid made it's way out of the water, (as Marlin had expected) the humans on the boat were staring in shock. One was pointing at it and shouting something to the other human as the other human made it's way to the edge of the boat. He took out what looked a large, fancy stick and pointed it at the squid. At first Marlin had no clue what he was doing, but right in the second before the squid landed back in the water, the stick let off a loud bang.

The squid seemed to stop in midair and fall into the ocean with a huge splash. The stick made the booming noise again, and Marlin noticed that whenever the bang noise went off, it was the hitting the squid with something… and very hard too. 

Marlin noticed with a great deal of relief that the water around the squid was turning black with ink. He took out a tiny bottle found in his bag and scooped up the black water. He took note, also, that the water was now turning a dark red color.

The squid was dead.

Marlin watched for a little bit more as the humans threw a net over the giant creature and hoisted it up on the boat. He cringed, thinking of how horrible that must have been. 

Back in the water again, Marlin decided to transport away from that area before going to sleep. He didn't want to rest in such a murky part of the ocean. And once he was in a good enough spot, he settled himself on the ground.

"Three down, four to go," Marlin said to himself. As he was falling asleep, he thought to himself about how he couldn't wait to finish this whole thing.

And see Dory again.

**A/N:**holy crap, this only took an hour to write. So I hope you enjoyed it, as I had fun writing it. Or at least, I must have, since I finish it so quick O_O Uh… once again I'll apologize for not having this done when I promised I would _ I'm such a bad person…


	9. Celestia's Riddle

**A/N: **Once again, I apologize for how long it took me to get this up. With how fast I write chapters, UI myself don't understand why I don't write them more often. I am really sorry uu;;;

School's out for me now, so I'll definitely be getting chapters up quicker. It won't take months at a time anymore hehe.

I'm taking the romance category out of the three main genres. There will definitely still be romance in the story, but right now with all the weird supernatural stuff I've been putting in this story, I think action/adventure/fantasy fits a little better.

I think Celestia's one of my better made-up characters. I think I'll draw her Read and review pweeze!

**Disclaimer: **See chapter 1.

Chapter 9 – "Celestia's Riddle"

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Marlin was in a huff the second he woke up. He could have rammed his head into a rock for his stupidity.

He had woken up only a few minutes ago, and it was already dark out. And since it was summer, it had to be pretty late in the night. He didn't want to believe that he had let a full day pass him by just because he was tired.

His own energy didn't matter to him! If being tired the rest of the day meant the only way he was going to get up early enough in the day, then so be it! He couldn't waste any time, but he did anyway.

Dory's life was slowly ticking away and out of his grasp, and he couldn't control it. "I'm such an idiot!" he scolded himself, swimming back and forth. "Dory is more important then my own comfort, and I just let a day of getting her medicine pass me by!"

After a few minutes, Marlin calmed down. Pulling out the rock harshly, he looked at what he had to retrieve next. In gold letters, it shone, _'Celestia's magic coral.'_

He touched the rock, hoping to himself that it wouldn't take much time to get this item. Because he had slept away the majority of the day already, he would now have to retrieve two items, which meant staying up all night once again.__

_But as long as Dory gets better, _Marlin though to himself as everything around began to spin. _I don't care if I stay up forever…_

Marlin sighed, and the spinning stopped, signaling that he had reached his destination. But this time, it was different from all the other places – he was at the water's surface!

He looked around for a moment. The moon shone down on the water, and there wasn't anything around for miles. But when he looked up, he could only gasp…

The night sky was filled with more stars than he had seen in his life. Stars like glitter lined the blue-ish black sky, with visible swirls of white and silver among them. It was truly a sight to see, and Marlin wished that Dory could have been with him to see it. He smiled at the thought of her big red eyes lighting up with awe, and her exclaiming how pretty it was.

Marlin shook his head, reminding himself of his time limit. But as he looked around once again, he realized that he didn't know what to do. All the other times, there had been something to symbolize where he should go, or what he should do, but this time, there was nothing around.

He waited for a few minutes more, wondering if he was in the right place. But… he wouldn't have been taken to the surface if there weren't anything up there. So he remained, awaiting something he wasn't sure was even going to come.

After a good seven or eight minutes, Marlin was just about to head back underwater, at that moment, a bright blue light blinded his vision. For a few seconds, all he could see was blue. The finally, the light faded, and all that was left of it was a glowing orb floating right in front of him.

When the light around the orb completely vanished, Marlin saw what looked like a human girl floating in place of the orb. Except, she was tinted blue, with a white aura of light outlining her. She had four eyes (all of which were closed), pointed ears, and wore a long dress of deep blue, which flowed about her, even though there was no wind to carry it. Her long white hair also fluttered about her by itself.

Marlin froze, unable to think of something to do. He simple waited for the… girl to do something.

Suddenly, her eyes opened, revealing them to be a deep, glowing red. Marlin jumped. She stared ahead for a little while before looking down at the shaking clownfish. With a still, straight face, she leaned down closer to Marlin, and looked at him.

He winced, waiting for her to zap him, or put a curse on him, or something, but nothing happened. Marlin stopped shaking, suddenly getting the feeling that she wasn't gonna hurt him. And somehow, he felt that… she was giving him this feeling, even though she wasn't saying a word.

Then, very unexpectedly, her straight expression disappeared; she smiled widely, and let out an enthusiastic, "HI!"

Caught off guard, Marlin jumped back into the water. He slowly made his way back out of the water, and saw the girl was still leaning down to his level. She now had a curious look on her face, as if wondering why she had scared him.

"Awww, don't be scared, little fish," she said, Marlin now noticing the slight echo in her voice. The feeling of security came back to him, and he allowed himself to fully face her. She smiled again, obviously feeling god with having his trust now.

"So what are you here for?" she asked pleasantly. Marlin raised an eyebrow at her, not knowing what to do. Could she understand him? He knew he could understand humans, but they couldn't understand him. But then again, she obviously wasn't human.

_Might as well try, she definitely thinks she's getting a response from me, _he though before opening his mouth to speak.

"Well, see my friend, Dory was poisoned by an anemone a few days ago," he began. Looking up at the girl, she nodded, understanding every word. Marlin felt a little strange talking to someone other than another fish, but he knew he should stop acting surprised with everything that had been going on during this journey.

He continued explaining. "And, uh… I'm going around collecting stuff needed to make her medicine. I'm not sure if you're the one I need to see, though." He paused. "Well I'm Celestia, if that's who you're looking for," she informed him, pointing proudly to herself.

Marlin smiled. "Yes! You're exactly who I need to see!" he exclaimed happily. He took out his rock and looked at it for the item he needed to get from her. "I need to get a piece of your magic coral," he told her, putting the rock away again.

Celestia smiled again, and in an eager tone, she said, "Well, to get it, you have to answer my riddle correctly." Then giggling, she straightened herself back up, and closed her eyes. For a few moments, she was still and silent.

Then, she reopened her eyes, her serious look back on her face. She took a small breath and began the riddle.

"Only one color, but not one size. Stuck at the bottom, yet easily flies. Present in the sun, but not in the rain. Doing no harm and feeling no pain."

She was quiet once again for a few seconds, then looked down at Marlin and smiled. And in her perky tone, she finished, "Who am I?"

Marlin looked down, thinking over what she said. He recited the poem to himself over and over again, trying to find something that fit all those description. Though he tried his best to take it step by step.

_What has only one color, but different sizes? _Marlin wondered silently. Tapping his bottom lip with his fin, he continued to ponder. _And what could fly when stuck on the bottom?_

_Well… in riddles, words are used to vaguely hint something else. So… maybe when they say 'fly' then mean move swiftly, or quickly. Also, if the thing is present in the sun, but not in the rain… sun means light, and rain means dark, so this thing is able to be seen in the light, but not the darkness. And if it feels no pain, then it's definitely inanimate…_

Marlin thought over all the clues careful, and for quite some time. He knew he had to be very careful in answering, since Dory's life depended on it. So he had to take his time, no matter how long it would take.

After a little more than a half hour, Marlin finally heard a light bulb click on in his head. His eyes snapped wide open, and he smiled in self-satisfaction. He had his answer.

"Have you figured it out yet?" Celestia asked, noticing his sudden change in mood. He looked up at her and nodded.

"It's a shadow!" he exclaimed. "Shadows can be all different sizes, but are always black. They're only seen against an object, which could be considered the bottom, but move right along with you. They're only caused by light, and obviously can't do anything, or feel anything," he explained his answer.

Celestia was quit for a little while, and Marlin almost wondered if he had gotten it wrong. He prayed that wasn't it…

She then looked down at the fish and smiled. "You got it!" she squeaked. Marlin let out the breath he was holding, and felt relieved.

"Just a second now," she said, now digging through her dress. "I need to find it… aha!" she pulled out a tiny leather pouch and handed it to him. Marlin eagerly took it and put it in the bag with all the other items he had collected.

"Thank you," he said in sincerity. He was pleased to have finally met a nice person. Celestia smiled cheerfully and told him, "No problem. You're definitely the smartest sea creature I've met."

Marlin smiled at her. "Good luck with getting to your friend on time," she said, waving goodbye to him. He waved back and watched as she turned back into the glowing orb, and drifted back up into the sky.

-

**A/N:**It didn't take long for me to write this at all. And since school is done, I should be able to finish this soon. Wish me luck, and please leave a review!


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